Sandpiper Certificate of Need is Declaration of War

Posted by Thane Maxwell51sc on June 10, 2015

On Friday, June 5, the Minnesota Public Utility Commission (PUC) granted Enbridge Inc. a certificate of need for the Sandpiper pipeline, despite requests from the tribes to postpone this decision to take into account their public hearing process, and despite clear evidence that the pipeline would violate treaty rights and endanger the wild rice and water of the north. The White Earth and Mille Lacs bands of Ojibwe each came out strongly against the Sandpiper pipeline.

“The Minnesota PUC’s decision to grant a certificate of need to the Enbridge Corporation is a declaration of war against the Anishinaabeg people, a slap to tribal governments, and a threat to the water of Minnesota,” said Winona LaDuke.

"This is far from over," concurred Mille Lacs Band Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin to the Brainerd Daily Dispatch. "We will do everything we can to protect our homeland."